Top junior financial analyst sections that make the best resume
- Header
- Professional summary
- Experience (with numbers and results)
- Relevant skills
- Education
- Certifications
Writing a strong junior financial analyst experience section
Junior Financial Analyst Resume Experience Section: Ultimate Checklist
- Use no more than 4-6 bullet points per position;
- List relevant positions and situations that add value to your application;
- Describe situations, tasks, actions, and results (the S-T-A-R method);
- Remember to include numbers in whatever form you like (e.g. the number of projects you’ve finished);
- Begin each bullet point with an action verb.
Check out the examples below when building your experience section. They will help you stand out!
- Assisted in due diligence and valuation missions of companies operating in a variety of industries.
- Developing a business plan for a packaging company, as part of its IPO.
- Preparation of the annual report of the ATIC (Association Tunisienne des investisseurs en Capital) - 2014 Edition.
- Assisted in a restructuring mission of a construction company.
- Intermediated in missions of statutory auditors for the following Companies: CTE and Honeywell.
- Preparation of pitch books, information memorandums and full assistance in deal negotiations.
- Pan African Audit Seminar (Morocco): Account receivable & Account payable Audit, AS2 tools and simulation.
- Internal training: Valuation methods, Financial Analysis, Introduction to Audit, Normative net debt and EBITDA Adjustments, Financial Modelling.
- Construct and maintained budget templates used in budgeting and forecasting processess and maintain KPIs monitoring reports.
- Support the monthly end consolidation of financial statements.
- Identify discrepancies and provide guidance to accounting teams.
- Undertake financial research, analysis and reporting.
- Preparation of Management Accounts.
- Preparation of monthly forecasts for management to ensure accurate decision making.
- Conducted legal research and analysis of case law to support the legal team's arguments in various cases.
- Assisted in the drafting of legal documents including pleadings, briefs, and motions.
- Reviewed and analyzed legal documents for accuracy and completeness.
- Prepared memoranda on legal issues and provided recommendations to attorneys.
- Managed and maintained confidential case files.
- Conducted Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks for new clients.
- Performed due diligence on potential clients to identify any conflicts of interest.
- Assisted in the development of compliance policies and procedures.
- Tracked and reported on compliance-related issues and activities.
- Assisted in the coordination of internal and external compliance audits.
- Assisted attorneys in drafting and reviewing real estate contracts and other legal documents.
- Conducted title searches and property surveys to ensure compliance with local and state regulations.
- Managed and maintained case files and calendars.
- Assisted in the preparation of closing documents and attended real estate closings.
- Coordinated with clients, opposing counsel, and other parties to facilitate smooth and efficient transactions.
- Developed a market intelligence report that increased the company's profits by 10%.
- Provided financial modeling to support the company's growth plans and identified potential risks and opportunities.
- Collaborated with cross-functional teams to complete stress tests and validate the company's product viability.
- Presented financial forecasts to senior management, resulting in the approval of a £5 million investment in R&D.
- Provided ad-hoc analysis and reporting to support the management team in making strategic decisions.
- Created a pricing strategy for a new product launch that resulted in a 20% increase in revenue.
- Analyzed product profitability and recommended changes to the portfolio, which led to a 5% increase in gross margin.
- Developed a dashboard to monitor sales performance and identified trends and opportunities for improvement.
- Assisted in the preparation of the annual budget and forecast, and provided variance analysis against actual results.
- Provided support to the finance team in the monthly close process and reconciled key accounts.
PRO TIP
Check the Junior Financial Analyst job description for inspiration. Look for similarities between your employer’s values and your experience.
Action verbs for your junior financial analyst resume
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Writing a strong skills section for your junior financial analyst resume
Checklist for your junior financial analyst skills section:
- Include all relevant skills from the job description to pass ATS;
- Focus on skills that show your expertise;
- List your technical skills in a clear and concise manner;
- Leave room for transferable skills related to teamwork, communication, negotiation, and conflict management.
Top skills for your junior financial analyst resume
Microsoft Office
SAP
Excel
Salesforce
Data Entry
Quickbooks
Project Management
Customer Service
CRM
Communication
Negotiation
Critical thinking
Problem solving
Collaboration
Flexibitly
Resilience
Dedication
Empathy
PRO TIP
When picking skills to feature in your resume, make sure they'll be relevant to the position you’re applying to. The point of listing skills is for you to stand out from the competition. Stay away from repetitive, meaningless skills that everyone uses in their resumes. Or else, they’ll backfire and make you look like an average candidate.
Junior financial analyst resume header: Tips, red flags, and best practices
Checklist for your junior financial analyst resume header
- Your name and surname in a legible and larger resume font
- The job title you’re applying for or your current job title as a subheading to your name
- Link to your portfolio or online profile, such as LinkedIn
- Address (City and State for the US; just your city for rest of the world)
- Email address
- Headshot (required or welcomed in the EU; not required and sometimes frowned upon in the US)
Stick to popular email providers such as Gmail or Outlook. And use these professional formats to create your username:
- first.last@gmail.com
- last.first@gmail.com
- firstlast@gmail.com
- f.last@gmail.com
- first.l@gmail.com
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
Some companies, states, and countries have policies about identifying information like photos on your Junior Financial Analyst resume. Be sure to check all the relevant rules before submitting yours. If you’re in doubt, you can always try contacting the company’s HR department to ask for their policy.
The ideal summary for your junior financial analyst resume
Mastering the summary section: checklist
- Mention the total years of experience you have in the field;
- Focus on 2 to 3 of your top achievements;
- Highlight the things that make you the best fit for the position;
- Go for short, easy-to-read sentences to keep the recruiter’s attention.
Resume summary formula:
PRO TIP
Include a link to your portfolio in your resume header. Most companies will require that you include one in your resume, and even if they don’t, it’s an excellent opportunity to directly show them your proudest projects.
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Things to include in your junior financial analyst resume education section
Junior financial analyst resume education section checklist:
- Mention your highest education degree;
- Add the duration of your course and the institution you attended;
- List the awards you’ve received during your studies;
- Feature your certifications if they are relevant to the position;
- Entry-level positions: Share more about projects and classes.
Top certifications for your junior financial analyst resume
The Complete Financial Analyst Course 2022
Excel, Accounting, Financial Statement Analysis, Business Analysis, Financial Math, PowerPoint: Everything is Included!
The Complete Financial Analyst Training & Investing Course
Succeed as a Financial Analyst &Investor by Award Winning MBA Prof who worked @Goldman, in Hedge Funds & Venture Capital
Financial Modeling for Business Analysts and Consultants
Learn Financial Modeling in Excel that will allow you to participate in due diligence, strategy or turn around projects
Financial Analysis: Financial Ratios For Analysts
Learn How To Analyze Financial Ratios of Stocks Like A Professional Analyst/Investor or CFA
Learn to be a Financial Analyst
Master the skills you need to get a job as a financial analyst: forecasting, budgets, variance analysis and more
Recommended Reads:
PRO TIP
If you hold a certain major and a minor, your majors should be mentioned first.
Formatting your junior financial analyst resume
What’s worse than a .docx resume? A resume with a poorly chosen format.
In general, there are three basic resume formats we advise you to stick with:
- Reverse-chronological resume format;
- Functional skills-based resume format;
- Combination (or Hybrid) resume format.
Choosing between them is easy when you’re aware of your applicant profile – it depends on your years of experience, the position you’re applying for, and whether you’re looking for an industry change or not.
The reverse-chronological resume format is just that – all your relevant jobs in reverse-chronological order. It’s great for applicants with lots of experience, no career gaps, and little desire for creativity.
When working with less experienced applicants, we suggest the functional skills-based resume format. It’s great for recent graduates or people with large career gaps. Functional skills-based resumes focus on your personality, the skills you have, your interests, and your education. Ultimately, the idea is to show you’re the perfect fit without putting too much emphasis on your work experience (or lack thereof).
If you’re in the middle or are generally looking to make your resume feel more modern and personal, go for the combination or hybrid resume format. It offers the best of both worlds by combining sections focused on experience and work-related skills and at the same time keeping space for projects, awards, certifications, or even creative sections like ‘my typical day’ and ‘my words to live by’.
Junior Financial Analyst Resume Formatting Checklist
- Choose the resume format based on your level of experience and the company you’re applying for
- Go for a traditional 10-12p font
- Stick to 1-inch page margins to ensure high readability
- Match the length of your resume to your experience, but don’t go for more than two pages!
To take it a step further, check out how your resume can stand out without leaning too much on the creative side.
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
Test your draft Junior Financial Analyst resume by sending it out to peers and mentors in your circles. Ask them to review it as if they are hiring you for a project and implement the feedback afterwards.
Additional sections for your junior financial analyst resume
In some cases, especially when it comes to entry-level positions, adding more sections beyond the usual ‘experience’, ‘skills’, and ‘education’ works well in your favor. Such additional sections will help you paint a fuller picture of who you are in the recruiter’s head.
Here’s a list of fun yet informative additional sections for your resume:
Making your junior financial analyst resume creative
We know too well that recruiters go through tons of resumes every day. The worse part is, they often need to hire people for different positions and teams. So how do you make yourself stand out in such cases?
By adding a dash of creativity to your Junior Financial Analyst resume. It can be in the form of a colorful layout, a section describing your typical day, or even a picture of your favorite book – you decide!
Just make sure that the levels of creativity match the industry, company, and position you’re applying for.
What makes a great junior financial analyst resume: key takeaways
- Choose a resume layout that sends the right message across and fits your current career situation;
- Create a resume header that shows your desired job title, and easy to find contact numbers;
- Be specific about your experience, accomplishments and future goals in your summary;
- Feature detailed metrics and specific examples that show the impact you made in your previous roles when describing your experience;
- List soft skills backed by examples;
- Add all of your technical skills and certifications that you have and match the job description;
- Show off a dash of personality in your resume that will demonstrate your culture fit and the right mix of hard and soft skills.
